Caterpillars and a Beady Eye

I found these two today. They were on an overgrown plot - which are very interesting to hang round, but not very welcome on an allotment site!
This is an orange tip butterfly caterpillar. It's long and thin and velvet looking. It generally eats weeds, including red campion that we have on our plot, amongst other wildflowers.
Up close you can see that its legs are darker green - they looked like part of the stem it was standing on when I took the photo.
This is a mullein moth caterpillar.This is pretty small, at an early part of its larval stage, they grow quite large before pupating. As before when I saw one, it's not actually on a mullein plant, but it shouldn't cause a problem to allotment plants.
And here's the beady eye! One of the many magpies on site... Now they are trouble for plotholders - especially sweetcorn growers!

Comments

  1. I sent j to get his gun to shoot our magpies but then saw them with their babies a they won a reprieve

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    1. Aw :-(. I think our mother magpie may want to kill her own 5 kids at the moment though!

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  2. I cant help liking magpies although they are so wicked. However I find the caterpillars a bit creepy.

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    1. They keep their white bits so clean and are such impressive birds, but have a real gang attitude!
      Caterpillars are so varied though, they're amazing! And are so different from the moth/butterfly that they turn into. Crazy nature!

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Please leave a comment. I'm very pleased to receive corrections or confirmations of my identification of the creatures we've spotted on the allotment.